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Friday, June 29, 2012

It’s hot hot hot down here this week, and although we love watermelon when it’s super hot, the watermelons do not love it to be this hot.

Snowing in the watermelon fields!

It was blazing today and won’t get much better before the end of next week.

The watermelon guru (Brad’s dad) and his boys are scrambling around to keep these growing melons protected from this heat. We are not ready to end our harvest, so we really want to keep the small melons from being damaged by too much sun.

What better way to defend against a heat wave than with snow?! It’s watermelon sunscreen! Right now, we are busy snowing field after field of melons to keep them from getting sunburned. If the sun burns the skin of the watermelon, it will go bad faster and won’t be good quality – especially for shipping. And we certainly don’t want any bleaching of those beautiful green stripes!

This is a bit of an exaggeration because this picture was taken in August (a couple years back) after our harvest was over, but you can get the idea. See how the sun has burned the melon, and it has that really bad spot on the top? You know how in any produce the tiniest of spots can cause a huge mess… this is what we’re trying to avoid.

The guys use the tractor and watermelon sprayer to spray a protective layer over the fields of watermelons. The “snow” coats the tops of the watermelons to give the a layer of “melonscreen.”

Since the watermelons grow quickly, snow has to be applied again and again. It’s like painting a balloon and then blowing it up some more… the paint spreads thin and needs to be reapplied (thanks to my honey for his good teaching with that example!)

See how the snow just covers the part that the sun hits the most? The lower part of the watermelon is still really green. (And the part that sits on the ground is on it’s way to creamy yellow… just as it should be in a yummy ripe watermelon!)

Hopefully we’ll see this baby coming through the barn soon as a big beautiful watermelon with beautiful skin!

You most likely won’t see the snow on watermelons in the store because it comes off fairly easily. And, we have brushes on our line to polish them up nice and shiny!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Blair and Gus. That child loves that dog. He’s basically her best friend. (Thanks to mom and dad who keep her cooped up away from germs for most of the year!) She talks to him, reads to him, and plays with him. And when she hugs him, she says, “I’m lovin’ on ma dawg.”

And she’ll say, “Whose dog is this?” (Because she knows he was mine at one point.) And I’ll answer that he’s mine, and she’ll say, “No, this is MY dog!”

She likes him to be on his “yeash” – even though he really won’t go anywhere without us.

Gus has more names than anyone I know. Gus, Gussy, Gustifer, Mutt, Mutt Dog, Herbal (Blair original), Buckey, GusBucket, Brown Dog, Gusbo… And he actually answers to many of them! And Blair continues to make them up.

Finally, after breaking our hearts for months ignoring her, Gus actually comes when Blair calls him, and he’ll “load up” on her bed on command. Hiding seek is the game of choice right now, and this is how I found her and Gus! He always has to play – he hides and hunts!

The only thing is that she thinks she needs to be told “load up” to get in the Ranger (“Tell me ‘load up,’ Mama!”), and she’s told a friend to “load up” onto something a time or two. Oops. I told her that she couldn’t talk to people like that!

Gus knows and obeys “Gus, go to Blair’s room.”

And here we have “Gus, get in your kennel.”

He also uses the camera remote to take pictures. (Look how patient he is with her!)

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Same song, different verse for this little one. Everything I suggested to Brad got turned down for weeks on end. And his tolerance for talking about names? About 48 seconds at a time with days in between.

But, it was okay because there was nothing that I was so in love with that I was upset that I got a nay. I really liked Ford, from Brad’s name Bradford, but that one probably got the most adamant “no!” from Bradford himself. “Might as well name him Dodge,” he said. And it was okay because there were others that sounded better with our last name. Which is another issue. There are A LOT of names that don’t work with our last name – especially for a little boy.

And then there was the pressure of finding something as perfect as Blair’s name. We adore her name. It’s her, and it’s not common these days, but it’s not weird either.

After weeks of suggestions on both our parts (Brad did have those that he suggested and I turned down!), several flights with a name book in hand, there was finally ONE name that we both liked. Exactly the same thing happened with Blair. But then Brad wanted to keep it to ourselves for a while “in case we changed our minds.” I assure you that I was SURE we weren’t finding another name we both loved, but I complied.

Now Brad has started telling (and Blair too!), so I’m telling too! We’re getting close to meeting this little one:

Leighton Noble

I’m pleased to say that I’m as thrilled with this name as we were with Blair’s. I wasn’t sure we could do it. I pulled the name from a book initially, but we have a friend with the name (same spelling), and I know one other from my hometown who spells it with “ey.” I got the “I kindof like that” when I mentioned it to Brad for the first time – just like when I mentioned “Blair” 4 years ago. So there it stuck, and there it stays! Finally.

And here he is with Brad’s lips and Blair’s cheeks! He looks like me in some pictures; we’ll have to wait and see for sure! Just under 5 weeks to go!

Monday, June 4, 2012

It’s worked out for several years in a row for us to go up to Aunt Linnie’s at the end of May. This year we spent 4 nights with her, Ben, and Faegan.

We played and played and sewed and played some more! The first day we went to the fabric store and to Sam’s. The girls were so sweet eating fruit in the buggy, and then we all shared one piece of pizza! Faegan eats just as much as Blair does (or more); Blair is such a bird eater the majority of the time.

Blair and Faegan were both happy in the pool every day we were there.

Cute!

This is Faegan’s face that looks like her mama. Otherwise she’s all daddy!

Blair talked about going to Aunt Linnie’s for DAYS before we left. She loves Aunt Linnie. And she loves Uncle Ben from a distance. She asks about him and talks about him all the time; however, if he’s within her sight she’s not much on him. Poor Ben, he’s done nothing to deserve the cold shoulder!

We used naptime to work on baby boy’s bedding.

Blair doesn’t nap quite as much as Faegan, so she helped.

And she loved her first jump on the trampoline!

This was one of those things mommy can’t do right now, so she enjoyed it with Aunt Linnie and Faegan.

We also got to swing and play on the seesaw.

As the weekend went by, the sewing progressed…

Until we had near completion and then a finished product!

Faegan was precious as always.

Blair was precious too, except when she got in trouble for taking Faegan’s toys or not wanting Faegan to play with hers. We’re working on it!

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Child of God, wife of a farmer, mom to a miracle, RN; picture taker, animal lover, Spanish speaker, world traveler, former high school teacher. I love food, knitting, blogging, and living in a small town. I write about a little of all of the above!

Brad is my husband of 6 years and the reason I live across the branch. From a very young age he knew he'd be a farmer. God gave him the love and the talent -- and he's the best looking and the best dressed farmer I know! He's funny, creative, and he's the most wonderful husband and father. He's the one that can make Blair light up like no other.

Blair is four! We are so blessed to have her. She was born very sick, but God gave her strength and brought her through it. She has hearing loss called Auditory Neuropathy and wears hearing aids. She also has chronic lung disease, but you wouldn't know by seeing her! She is the busiest, funniest little thing who keeps us laughing and on our toes. I thank God for her every day.

Leighton is the happy roly poly who joined our family this summer. He has been a joy and is as sweet as his big sister! He's such a blessing, and we're so thankful for him!